Abstract

We report on the first experimental setup based on a 2D-/3D-magneto-optical trap (MOT) scheme to create both Bose-Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases of several ytterbiumisotopes. Our setup does not require a Zeeman slower and offers the flexibility to simultaneously produce ultracold samples of other atomic species. Furthermore, the extraordinary optical access favors future experiments in optical lattices. A 2D-MOT on the strong 1S0 → 1P1 transition captures ytterbium directly from a dispenser of atoms and loads a 3D-MOT on the narrow 1S0 → 3P1 intercombination transition. Subsequently, atoms are transferred to a crossed optical dipole trap and cooled evaporatively to quantum degeneracy.

Received 05 March 2013Accepted 08 April 2013Published online 29 April 2013

Acknowledgments:

This work has been supported financially by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the SFB 925 and GRK 1355 and the European Commission within the FET-Open Scheme (iSense, Grant No. 250072). The authors thank Thomas Rützel, Hans Keßler, and Jan Carstens for experimental support.